CES 2009: Samsung Press Conference

It's Wednesday afternoon at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas, and the heavy hitters are starting their press conferences. The real estate has widened as we are shown into the massive room where Samsung will be telling us all about their new tech, gilded on all sides by (natch) giant Samsung video screens, and pop music.

And here we go...

2:00 PM -The lights dim, and we're underway. David Steele, VP of Marketing is here, and he's our host for the conference. He stresses the company's commitment to innovation, in spite of the global economic crush. The Samsung seamless experience makes its debut. They want their users to enjoy all of the benefits of their tech and devices at any time in the most convenient way possible.

They are proud of their technology, not only on the consumer side, but on the hardware side and development as well, from semiconductor all the way to media players.

2:07 PM - Media 2.0 will allow Samsung TV's to download content, including movies, games, even recipies, all through clicking a widget on the TV. They will team with Yahoo to bring Internet TV to Samsung TVs. Patrick Berry from Yahoo takes the stage, to talk about the initiative, which will incorporate big brands such as eBay and CBS to create widgets for your television which will keep you connected to the world.

Yahoo Cinematic Internet will be an open platform, which will use the Yahoo! Widget Engine, available free on Samsung devices as of today. There's a new engine, a new UI framework, etc. He then demos it. It's a scrollable widget list that runs at the bottom of your screen, which you can open and interact with while the television you're watching plays in the background.

There will be photos and video of your own, Yahoo!, and third-party sources, as well.

2:14 PM - A partnership is announced between Samsung and Netflix and Samsung and Pandora, to provide music and movies to your TV. They will also feature wireless transmission of HD content to your television and from your mobile phone.

2:17 PM - New slim Touch of Color TV's announced. Light, thin, and elegant. These are some excellent-looking units.They are also introducing a new LED line called LUXIA LED, which will consist of 40" - 55" units that are focused on being brighter and cleaner than ever before.

They are announcing a new unified UI that will allow you to use all Samsung products in the same way. There is some new intuitive UI on cameras and camcorders, as well, which will allow you to take pictures with a touch. Customizable cell phone screens with a new widget.

2:25 PM - It's time to talk eco-friendliness. Samsung is going green by reducing power consuption on their products and using eco-friendly components. (They're also doing it with their washers and dryers, but that's a lot less sexy.) They are also eco friendly in their offices. In short, Samsung loves the Earth.

There is a short video that focuses on Samsung customers and what they had to say about their products.

2:30 PM - New products. Tim Baxter, VP North America hits the stage (to Bowie's 'Rebel, Rebel,' no less) to talk about the strategic products for 2009. The LUXIA LED 6000 will be an ultra slim TV that's just over an inch thick, with mega contrast ratios, and a reduction of energy with no mercury or lead in them.

We then see the LUXIA LED 7000, a serious television with a flash library, internet @tv, USB 2.0, and DINA. It's a fully interactive television experience. It's light, it's thin, and it's gorgeous. As if that weren't enough, there's a new wall mount that reduces the gap between itself and the wall from 2" to .6".

And then, the LED 8000. 240Hz refresh rate! No motion blur. A Touch of Color design. It's awesome. The LCD 750 will feature their new white color technology. Oh, and they're still making plasmas, as well. Big ones. But they're thinner, as well.

How about a 22" 3D monitor with glasses to make the ultimate 3D experience? You bet.

2:35 PM - New Blu-Ray lineup with new home theater systems. BD-P4600 is the slimmest Blu-Ray player on Earth, with BD On Demand, wireless networking, and wi-fi ready. Netflix and Pandora will be part of it, and you will be able to access both right out of the box. It's also wall-mountable.

HT-BD8200 is a BD Live interactive-equipped sound bar that makes for a pretty awesome Blu-Ray home theater experience. It's Bluetooth capable and comes with a wireless subwoofer. Dag!

New high-performance digital cameras and camcorders on the way, as well. The HMX-H106 has 64GB SSD built in, and is an HD camcorded. It has a solid state drive. You can record up to 12 hours of HD footage at 1080.

Palm Theater P-3 is a 32G customizable video player with haptic technology that you can play around with by moving widgets and such around with your finger.

And we get a little pep talk, and we're done. Whew. That's a lot of product in 45 minutes. Of course, you can see it all by coming back and watching the press conference on our CES site later today. Seriously, you have to see some of this stuff.